Land the Plane

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Mathematics

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Overview

In this Desmos activity, students practice finding equations of lines in order to land a plane on a runway. Most of the challenges are well-suited to slope-intercept form, but they are easily adapted to other forms of linear equations depending on the goals of an individual class or a student. This activity should be used to help teach a lesson on slope-intercept. This Desmos activity offers sample student responses and a teacher guide.

Mathematics (2019) Grade(s): 09-12 - Geometry with Data Analysis

MA19.GDA.15

Evaluate possible solutions to real-life problems by developing linear models of contextual situations and using them to predict unknown values.

UP:MA19.GDA.15

Vocabulary

  • Quantitative variables
  • Scatter plot
  • Residuals
  • Slope
  • Rate of change
  • Intercepts
  • Constant
  • Ordered pairs
  • Horizontal lines
  • Vertical lines

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Techniques for creating a scatter plot.
  • Techniques for fitting a linear function to a scatter plot.
  • Methods to find the slope and intercept of a linear function.
  • Techniques for fitting various functions (linear, quadratic, exponential) to data.
  • Methods for using residuals to judge the closeness of the fit of the function to the original data.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Accurately create a scatter plot of data.
  • Correctly choose a function to fit the scatter plot.
  • Make reasonable assessments on the fit of the function to the data by examining residuals.
  • Accurately fit a linear function to data when there is evidence of a linear association.
  • Accurately fit linear functions to scatter plots.
  • Correctly find the slope and intercept of linear functions.
  • Justify and explain the relevant connections slope and intercept of the linear function to the data.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Functions are used to create equations representative of ordered pairs of data.
  • Residuals may be examined to analyze how well a function fits the data.
  • When a linear association is suggested, a linear function can be fit to the scatter plot to aid in modeling the relationship.
  • Linear functions are used to model data that have a relationship that closely resembles a linear relationship.
  • The slope and intercept of a linear function may be interpreted as the rate of change and the zero point (starting point).

CR Resource Type

Learning Activity

Resource Provider

Other

License Type

Custom

Resource Provider other

Desmos

Accessibility

Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
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